Wilting Lilies
by oturlu
Summary: The story of Ramirez and how he turned from an innocent child to a fierce warrior. The story follows Ramirez and his relationships with those around him including Vyse, Galcian, and others. RamirezXoc rating may go up in later chapters
1. Chapter 1: A Child’s Wish

Wilting Lilies

Chapter 1: A Child's Wish

In the darkest hour of the night a small boy looked out at the sky, and with a sense of pure awe gazed upon the most beautiful sight it had to offer. A small silver streak shot across the sky so close to the earth that it looked as if it would fall down at the youth's feet.

"Mama, look! A shooting star, I saw a shooting star," he proclaimed to his mother. He looked about as happy as if he had just received the most wonderful toy in the world.

"You know, when you see a shooting star the moons give you a wish," she said "do you want to make a wish dear?"

"I don't know what to wish for," he said, and he looked up at his mother as if she was the only one in the world who knew what he should do.

His mother smiled down at him. She knew that the supposed shooting star was probably just a falling moon stone, but as many mothers know, sometimes it is the simple white lies that help a child grow in a world of wonders.

"Wish for something that you really want, and if your lucky it will come true," she said.

"But Mama, I don't know what I want," he said pouting.

"well then, think of who you want to be the most like and then think of what you want to do when you are like them and that will be your wish," she told him.

"I wana be like Papa!" he told her with a beaming face.

"Ahh, so you want to be an air pirate," she said with a laugh. He was the typical boy, always wanting to be just like his father.

Her son adored his father, as any son should, but new nothing of his father's occupation, other than the fact that it was what the man he aspired to be did for a living. She was well aware that her son's blind worship for his father could lead him into the dangerous life of a pirate, but as a pirate's wife she was used to risk. Even though the Blue Rouge pirates only stole from armed Valuan battleships, they were still pirates and therefore were often seen on wanted lists at local ports. In Arcadia having the Valuan empire after you meant that your name would be know on every continent; this could be risky for a pirate especially if the empress put a bounty over your head. Nevertheless the mother knew deep in her heart that her son would choose the right path.

"Yeah, and Papa and I are gonna be famous and tell the Valuans to be nice to everyone," he said breaking her brief trance.

"Ohh, really," she laughed.

"Then when I'm big, I'm gonna get a big ship and be the best captain ever!" he grinned from ear to ear at the thought. Of course he had to be a captain as well, just like his father.

"Is that the end of your wish," she asked with a laugh.

"Not yet," he said with a grin. "I also wanna save the world from all the bad guys," he said.

"Is that the end of your wish Vyse?"

"Uh hu," he said sleepily

"Well, Mr. Vyse if you're going to save the world then you are going to need to sleep first okay," she said lovingly

"Okay Mama," he said

She picked him up and brought him in the house. After she had tucked him in she sat by her own bed and stewed over his wish list.

Was it wrong for her son to want to be like his father? How could a child's love for his father be a bad thing? Stealing was an act against the Moons, and it left a large hole in your eternal soul, every mother's son knew that. On the other hand wasn't it less of a crime to steal from a rich man than to steal from a poor one. The lives of the Blue Rouges were devoted to using their stolen money to help the poor. If her son was to grow up and help people, how could she worry about him being a sinner? She had gone through the same train of thoughts when she had met her husband, Dyne. She knew what he did was wrong on a certain level, but her love for him and his way of helping others, as controversial as it may have been, balanced out his sins. If that was all it took to keep her husbands crimes from becoming marks against him, then shouldn't it be the same for her child. She knew in her heart that it was her motherly instinct to protect her son from everything that threatened his delicate innocence that made her want to hold him back from his dreams, but she also knew that there were some things that a mother should not try to stop; at least not fully.

She started to wonder if all mothers felt such a strong need to protect there children from their destinies. Would a mother from another culture feel a need to protect their child's innocence from something like following a bad career choice? She supposed so, but how would she ever know if another woman was out there struggling against her respect for her family and the morals that she held dear?

It was late and she knew that her son would awaken her at an early hour, so with a sigh Lorena of the Blue Rouges laid herself to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2: In Her Stead

Chapter 2: In Her Stead

"Mom you're going to be better okay," the boy said with shaking voice. He had said his words as if they were the only definite way of saving his mother from her illness.

"Ramirez, sweetheart, I want you to be strong for me alright?" said the boy's mother.

"Mom! Please you're going to get better; the elders will find a way to cure the disease! I know they will!" he said. His emerald eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks were blotchy from the stress of crying over his mother. Even though she was on her death bed, he still begged the moons to let her spend more time in this world; there was no price he wouldn't pay to keep her alive.

"I'm not going to make it through the night darling, but I want you to know that I am always going to be with you on some level. Even in heaven, I will watch over you," she said. She was trying as hard as she could not to cry, she knew that not only was she going to have to leave her son, but what his fate would be when she went to the next world.

If she was not there to stop them then the elders would send him down to Arcadia as a soldier, and force him to retrieve the mooncrystals for them. He would be sent on a mission that could only have two possible endings: her son would either die, or kill millions. If the elders could get him to do their bidding then they would send him on a quest to retrieve the five most dangerous weapons in all of Arcadia.

Ramirez and his mother were part of a race called Silvites. In the days of the old world the Silvites had lived on the planet of Arcadia, on the continent Soltis. I those days Arcadia was the home of six different races each under a different colored moon; the Silvites had lived under the silver moon, and were at peace with the other countries.

As time went by the countries developed weapons in case they were to go to war. It got to the point were the countries were building giant creatures that they could only control with extremely powerful mooncrystals. The crystals held the power of thousands of moonstones and were used to control creatures called the gigas. The gigas were giant creatures that the countries planed on using as weapons if they were ever attacked.

The Silvites also created a gigas; they called the silver gigas Zelos. Zelos was not created to defend the Silvites but to "save" the world from corruption. The elders of the old Silvites had watched the world tear itself apart with war and had decided that it needed to restart. They gave Zelos the power to pull large pieces of the moons down to the earth in order to hit the continents below.

The people of Arcadia had never seen anything like the plummeting rocks and believed that they were a punishment from the moons. They called this cleansing, the rains of destruction.

The Arcadians were no match for the rains and almost entire civilizations were destroyed. Many of the continents had to restart their societies and create new governments all by themselves. Others were fortunate enough to have some of their most well educated citizens survive, and quickly rebuilt their old homes. Unlike the other civilizations, the people of Soltis had abandoned their continent and launched themselves into their moons orbit with their mages magic. That was where Ramirez and his mother Flora lived at this time, at the Great Silver Shrine.

Although they were safe from the rains the elders had become angery with the world again, and once again decided that it needed to start over. They wanted to resurrect the silver gigas Zelos and call the rains down once more. In order to do this they would need the crystals that controlled all of the gigas so that they could bring Soltis out of deep sky were it had fallen during the rains. Only the power of all six of the old world's crystals could raise the continent were Zelos slept, and the only way to get the crystals was to go through all of their trap filled hiding places one by one. After the continent was raised the seal that was keeping Zelos asleep would need to be destroyed, just to call down the rains and bring death to millions of people.

That was what Flora's son Ramirez had been born for; to become the soldier that would "save" the world by destroying it. He was to be the tool of the elders as they played the role of arbiter, and anyone who defied them was cast aside.

In order to try and save her son with her last bit of strength she gave him her last request in this world.

"Ramirez…," she whispered.

"Y…yes, mother,"

"No matter what they say, no matter what they make you do please, remember that there is good in the world and good in yourself. For the sake of the good do not let the elders inflict their punishment upon the world; try and salvage the world so that the good in it can blossom and spread. Do what I wanted to do; go in my stead and bring salvation to the world." As she said these words Ramirez could feel something was wrong.

"M…mm…mother!" he cried.

"Ramirez…I ...love you." she said with her last breath of life.

If anyone had walked into the room were Flora's deathbed lye they would have seen an elegant white-blonde haired woman with her eyes shut, giving her the appearance of someone at rest; they would also see a similar looking boy of twelve crying so hard that some would assume he was in intense pain.

With his emerald eyes bloodshot and swollen, his white hair unkempt, and his pale checked stained by tears and blotches, Ramirez of the Silvites was officially his mother's last chance at saving the world.


	3. Chapter 3: When I Grow Up

**Author's Note: hmm so I know it's been a looong time since updating but here we are! I still feel like this chapter is kind of a filler, but sometimes fillers are necessary to keep a story moving. Anyways, enjoy! **

Wilting Lilies Chp3: When I Grow Up

As Ramirez grew his mother's words lingered on in his mind. Even at a young age he knew that Flora's last words were not to be taken lightly, and that they were a warning of something soon to come.

Growing up in the shrine was dull and lonely for Ramirez, like his mother he wanted nothing more than to be a part of arcadia. It seemed like such an adventurous and vast terrain compared to the Silver Shrine, and Ramirez often dreamed of someday exploring the lands and living freely on them. Unfortunately the elders did not agree with Ramirez. Two years after his mother died, the elders began to discuss the evils that lied in Arcadia, rather than the wonders that Ramirez's mother once spoke of. They told Ramirez that the world below had once again become too corrupt for its own good and that, as the most advanced race, the Silvites would have to take charge of reforming the world by once again calling down the rains of destruction to restart the world. Ramirez was afraid of being disloyal but he could not help but hate them for their attempts at playing god. His mother had warned him about this and now he would have to decide which path was best for the world.

At the ripe age of seventeen, Ramirez now had the chance to make his choice known. Would side with his mother and stop the elders that had cared for him during his mother's sickness and after her death, or would he betray them in order to save a world that was probably corrupted and in order to fulfill his mother's wishes? The time to chose was waning fast, for the next morning Ramirez would be forced to either accept or refuse the mission to retrieve the moon crystals.

He sighed as he wandered down the twisting paths or the Silver Shrine, the place held so many memories for him… how could he ever leave it? Lost in his ponderings the youth did not notice two small figures creeping up behind him.

"SQUEEE!"

"What in deep sky?" cried Ramirez.

"Rami!" cried a little girl with gold blond hair, and the traditional Silvite complexion. She wore a white and gold Silvite dress that matched Ramirez's outfit, and she was accompanied by a small, round, silver creature that was floating in the air and emitting the squealing sound that had frightened Ramirez earlier.

"Oh Fina, you frightened me," Ramirez said with relief.

"Sorry. I called after you but you were walking too fast, and I couldn't catch up," said Fina with a frown.

"That's alright Fina, but why were you trying to catch me? Is something wrong?"

"The elders said that you're going down to the surface and that you're not coming back to for a long time!" It was obvious that she was deeply troubled by this news, for when Ramirez looked closely he noticed the faint remains of tearstains on the little ones face.

"I might not be going down to the surface Fina, I might just stay up here with you and Cupil," at the mention of his name the little silver creature perked up and began to circle around Ramirez's head. "I mean who else will make you all of your fancy jewelry?" he said with a grin.

"But the Elders said that you need to go down to save arcadia!"

_So they're playing their hidden card,_ he thought to himself. Fina and Ramirez were raised together and were as close as siblings; he should have known that they would use her to get to him. The Elders had ordered that Fina never be told why the crystals needed to be collected. They claimed that she was too young to know of the weighty decisions her people were making, and that she could never understand the concept of evil for the good of the whole; Ramirez doubted this. Fina was an intelligent girl, and even though she was only ten years old, Ramirez was positive that she would see the difference between good and evil if the situation was ever presented to her. But how would he explain that the people who had raised her were planning on killing millions. He could not do it, and the Elders knew it.

"Fina… I'll save the world for you alright? If I go down to Arcadia and try to do what I think is the right thing to save the world, even if it's not what the elders want, will you be happy?"

"I… I guess so, but what do you mean?"

"What I mean is…" how could he explain this to a ten year old girl, especially one as innocent as Fina? "I'm going to try my hardest to save everyone, but if I do not think the world will need as much saving as the elders think," it was an allusive way of explaining things but he really had no other way of doing so.

"Alright, I guess," She said with a faint smile.

"Thank you," he said as he ruffled her hair "but you should be getting to bed soon. The elders will be mad if the find out you're still up and about".

"Since it's our last night in the shrine together can I stay in your room?"

"Of course."

"Thank you." As they headed down the hall toward his quarters, Ramirez felt a twisted feeling in his stomach. His last night! It was his last night in the Silver Shrine!

They got to the room and Fina was asleep on Ramirez's cot in the blink of an eye, but Ramirez remained awake; he had something he needed to do.

He turned on the communications screen and told it to connect him to the Elders. In a few seconds Ramirez was able to start the conversation that would change his life.

"Ramirez, have you made a decision?" the decrepit figure on the screen asked airily.

"I am sure you are aware that I have made my decision Elder Prime, especially considering you have done everything in your power to ensure that I would accept your proposal," Ramirez stated coldly. Ramirez had never been one to be snide, but the Elders were stooping to an all time low for this mission.

"I am sure I have no idea what you are speaking of, young one," Elder Prime spoke to Ramirez as he would have to spoken to one of the insignificant island dwellers from bellow. It was the way things were at the shrine; if you disagreed with the Elders you were no longer worthy of their words.

"Oh but with greatest respect Elder Prime, I believe you do. I believe that you have been calling Fina in for extra lessons about Arcadia so that she will learn of the "evils" that the islanders have committed and how we must stop them."

"I will not deny that I have informed Fina of the evils of the world, but I do not understand why I should feel… well I suppose the emotion you are looking for is _guilt_ child?" there was a slight sneer.

"Precisely, but as I am sure you will recall, I also stated that despite your acts I am willing to accept your proposal." He stated coolly.

"Ah my dear Ramirez this is wonderful new! You will leave tomorrow at rising time and will bored your ship at the dock. I want you to head strait to Ixa'Taka for the first crystal and then…"

"I said I accepted your proposal, but you have not given me the chance to explain my terms" Ramirez interrupted.

"Terms?"

"Yes Elder Prime, my terms"

Elder Prime seemed to be contemplating punishing Ramirez for his insolence, but then seemed to think better of it and asked "and what would these terms of yours be, Ramirez?"

"First, is that I will not be going down with the intent to destroy a world full of life, but that I will be going out to judge for myself whether or not these people are as evil as you say they are. If I believe that there is some hope no matter how small, then they will be left unharmed."

"And with that undying optimism of yours, there is no doubt in my mind that you will refuse to stop them no matter how many acts of vanity and gluttony you see. These are people of sin Ramirez; their crimes are not to be taken lightly."

"I suppose that my optimism is one of those terrible traits that I got from my mother," Ramirez smirked. "If it's in my blood then I suppose there's no cure," he said with a pretend sigh of depression.

Elder Prime snorted.

"Very well then, are there any other terms that you want me to know of?"

"As a matter of fact there is one other that you should know".

"And that would be?"

"That you are to leave Fina out of this mess, and that if for some reason she is forced into it, you will tell her the truth and let her think for herself."

There was a moment of silence. Ramirez knew that if he failed the elders would send Fina. If they fed her lies and refused to tell her that their people were responsible for the deaths of millions then they would have no problem getting her to agree to the journey; but if she knew the truth, Ramirez knew she would make the right decision.

"Done," said Elder Prime. The answer was given with an expressionless face, but Ramirez could feel that he may have been being deceived.

"Very well then, that is all I wanted to request".

"Then tomorrow you will leave first thing at the rising hour".

"Yes Elder".

"May the silver moon watch over you, child".

"You as well Elder".

With that Ramirez turned off the screen, and went to Fina's side. She was so small, and so innocent; he had to go to protect her from the Elders. If he failed they would use her, and that little girl would be gone forever. For her sake he would collect the crystals; for her sake… he would destroy the world.

**A/N: Dun dun dun!!!! Well I hope everyone enjoyed this. I'm still not sure if there's a way to just add A/N's to the story while your posting it so I'm adding it to the saved file on my comp. just an FYI: I tend to post faster on deviant art… in fact I'm working on chp.6 right now n.n'. I'm oturlu on there as well so look me up if you want to. Please review if you have the time!**


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